Giants release veteran RB Najee Harris two days after Saints loss

The New York Giants are releasing veteran running back Najee Harris, Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday morning, ending a one-year arrangement that never produced the backfield lift New York was looking for.

Rapoport called it "another RB shakeup," and the timing is hard to miss: the move lands two days after a home loss to the Saints in which the Giants had explicitly planned to lean on Harris. New York went into that game expecting a change to its rotation, with Harris in line for a larger share of the work and Cam Skattebo downgraded but still in the mix following a run of ball-security problems.

That plan did not hold. Harris finished the loss with four carries for two yards, Harris did not appear to have much burst in the game. The snap counts from the game made the hierarchy plain before the transaction wire did.

Harris arrived in August on a one-year deal while working back from the Achilles tear that ended his 2025 season with the Chargers, and the signing cost New York another veteran when JuJu Smith-Schuster was released in the corresponding move. The Giants were buying a post-injury version of a back who had been a high-volume starter in Pittsburgh, and the fit never settled in a backfield that also had Tracy and Singletary eating snaps.

What remains is the group that actually played Sunday. Skattebo, Tracy and Singletary give New York three healthy options for a Week 7 home game against Houston, and the release clears a roster spot for a club that has been cycling through the bottom of its depth chart all month. It also removes the last trace of the plan the Giants announced only a week ago.

For Harris, the search starts again mid-season, seven weeks after he signed on as a hopeful fix.